Can't trim to chamber length

[Davey Boy]

What kind of Rifle..? If it's a Savage it's something you can do yourself.... Are you sure your reading the measurements correctly..? That's a lot of free bore... If it hasn't had a lot of rounds down the tube it shouldn't be wore out that much... .308 has good barrel life...

Yes it is a Savage but under a different name. Like a Savage 110C . Its a C.I.L. 950C About 1968 ish I just forget. Not a lot through it maybe 500 at the most to this point. I used the Sinclair chamber gauge as per instructions to find total length. Several measurements from 2.070 to 2.072 inches.
As a hunting rifle I've got it shooting MOA and sometimes a touch less. Guess I stay content with that and if I want to improve either re barrel or get a new gun. Going to keep my brass at 2.015 as that works so far with no problems and gives me a little leeway as to pressure.

So thanks for all your input fellas, guess I've got an old dog that I can't teach any new tricks, but it sure is fun trying, using what I have.

Dave

 

[fguffey]

If you were a case former you could make tools that would measure the length of the chamber in thousands, it would appear you have a chamber with a long neck; for me forming cases with long necks is not a problem.

Ok I just measured my .308 Win chamber with the Sinclair chamber gauge.

I am the fan of standards and transfers, If it is a Sinclair and or a Hornady I would first verify the gage, there is a difference between gages and comparators. After that it gets complicated when the reloader does not understand 'zeroing' and or verifying.

F. Guffey

 

[mikecr]

You're constantly mixing standards here.
Trim length has nothing to do with land contact relationships.
The chamber length gauge measures chamber end. This, along with your case length, provides your clearance measure to chamber end. Then you see how much if any trim is needed for reasonable clearance.
Maybe you shouldn't trim until way down the road. Maybe you should trim right up front. But trimming to shortest length in a box is likely never correct. Why the hell would that ever be right?

 

[Davey Boy]

You're constantly mixing standards here.
Trim length has nothing to do with land contact relationships.
The chamber length gauge measures chamber end. This, along with your case length, provides your clearance measure to chamber end. Then you see how much if any trim is needed for reasonable clearance.
Maybe you shouldn't trim until way down the road. Maybe you should trim right up front. But trimming to shortest length in a box is likely never correct. Why the hell would that ever be right?

I realize it has nothing to do with contacting the lands. I was asking where should I trim my brass to when my chamber measured with a sinclair chamber gage puts my chamber lenght at 2.070". I now know that trimming to chamber length minus. .01 to 2.060" is impossible and therefore I asked what I should do regards trimming my brass.
I also now realize being able to load into the lands with such a long chamber is also impossible.
I thought maybe there was some magic fix that someone on this forum might know, that is why I started this thread.
There is nothing I can do except carry on and continue to trim all my brass to 2.015 Max length. Might have some that I can even trim to 2.020" as they are that length already.
Other possibility is to re-barrel.

 

[ireload2]

To get longer cases start by using longer cases.
Form a few cases from 8X57trouble.or .30-06 and see if they are worth the trouble.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Do not worry about the gap at the end of the chamber. It wont hurt a thing. Carbon rings are not a problem. They only appear if you are not cleaning properly. In which case you will have other issues as well. Keep the barrel clean, use a bronze brush every time, and you will be fine.

 

[Davey Boy]

Thank you for all your replies. I will ignore the long chamber that I have and continue as I have been. I just though that maybe there was a way to deal with a really long chamber. One good thing I don't have to worry if my brass gets too long.

Thanks again
Dave

 

[yotehater]

Just don't shoot it in a std chamber. It might be too long.

 

[fguffey]

I realize it has nothing to do with contacting the lands. I was asking where should I trim my brass to when my chamber measured with a sinclair chamber gage puts my chamber lenght at 2.070".

It depends on the chamber, in the old days we would increase the length of the 300 Winchester neck; one reason, the neck is abut .270" long. By increasing the length of the neck we could seat the bullet further out and gain room for more powder in the case. To me it sounds like that is what happened to your chamber. In the old days we formed 300 Weatherb cases to 300 Winchester cases. When forming the case neck gets long, the increase in neck length was not trimmed until it was determined how much trimming was necessary. The results was impressive.

F. Guffey

 

[WillyTP]

It depends on the chamber, in the old days we would increase the length of the 300 Winchester neck; one reason, the neck is abut .270" long. By increasing the length of the neck we could seat the bullet further out and gain room for more powder in the case. To me it sounds like that is what happened to your chamber. In the old days we formed 300 Weatherb cases to 300 Winchester cases. When forming the case neck gets long, the increase in neck length was not trimmed until it was determined how much trimming was necessary. The results was impressive.

F. Guffey

How impressive? Not sure I understand why you would take a cartridge that costs 4 times more, to form a lesser performance cartridge as the above example. Was the new wildcat cartridge a “Weatherby Short Mag”? It would really have to out perform the plain old winmag to justify the cost, work to “form” and time to “form”. Can you post the results of this testing?

 

[fguffey]

the neck is abut .270" long

There are some that consider the 300 Winchester neck too short. I have a wildcat that has a neck that is .217" long, if .270" is too short 0217" is very short. So when forming cases for that wildcat I do what I can to increase the length of the neck. One more time; when forming and fire forming the case shortens .045" from the end of the neck to the case head.

F. Guffey

 

[WillyTP]

How impressive? Not sure I understand why you would take a cartridge that costs 4 times more, to form a lesser performance cartridge as the above example. Was the new wildcat cartridge a “Weatherby Short Mag”? It would really have to out perform the plain old winmag to justify the cost, work to “form” and time to “form”. Can you post the results of this testing?

There are some that consider the 300 Winchester neck too short. I have a wildcat that has a neck that is .217" long, if .270" is too short 0217" is very short. So when forming cases for that wildcat I do what I can to increase the length of the neck. One more time; when forming and fire forming the case shortens .045" from the end of the neck to the case head.

F. Guffey

Yea I have short neck cases too. But I do things a little differently. I “form by fire” twice, without a rifle. If I didn’t do it that way my case necks would shorten .035-.040”. With the “form by fire” method I only lose .010-.012”. I wish I could say I’m the only one that does this, but it wouldn’t be true. I’ve shared the method just like it was shared with me by a fellow shooter. This method does not use a rifle, all cases are fired twice in different chambers and then all the brass prep can begin to make the final cartridge.

This quoting yourself like Guffey does all the time is sweet, it’s like talking to myself while making Bullets.

 

[Zero333]

I let them grow to within 10 thou of the chamber. Once they're within 10 thou of the end of the chamber that's when I trim them back to minimum SAAMI specs (2.005" for the 308win.). This way I only trim every 10 or 15 reloads, depending on the chamber.

I have a batch of 300 pcs of Winchester 308win brass I've loaded 28 times. Just now I'm trimming them for the second time cause 30% of them are withing 10 thou of the chamber's end. This particular chamber measures 2.036" and it's the shortest of all the 308win chambers I've reloaded for. This batch of brass has outlasted 3 barrels and last time I sized it is when I had to scrap the very first piece due to a neck split. I anneal them every 5 or 6 reloads.